blackmail press 35
Keith Nunes
New Zealand

Taipari O Maraea - Penny Howard
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Keith Nunes is a former newspaper journalist who now writes to stay sane. He’s been published here and there and lives in rural Bay of Plenty with artist Talulah Belle.
Reading Siddhartha While Standing


Siddhartha sits there Eastern-spiritual still
waiting for nothing
but I have a response
although my complicated Western-outlook
causes me to hesitate; scramble; blame

he and Govinda take the highest road
that makes my nose bleed
they don’t even seem to be cold
but I in my heavy-hooded childhood
drama traumas shake, rattle and roll

Hermann the German writes inscriptions
between pages; between well-chosen words
about the meaning of wanting to find
the meaning of life
but on balance I find no meaning

so I ignore Siddhartha,
sitting there
without any apparent care
does he realise I’m
standing on his toes?






The Bloodied Wall-Hanging


Jesus hangs on the wall
fresh cuts, splinters
a well-worn path in the carpet
no deviation

a belief so intense
there’s drippings of blood
anguish, torment
a space filled with 5000 bodies

a thumbed calendar
with a tractor digging
is boldly marked
with the holy days

prints of Christ
rescuing, surrendering
sprinkled among
the shambles

he and her
black and white
told and been told
clear as a luminous, sun-drenched day

biblical in their Sunday best
they offer a ride
I go along
enthralled, transfixed, expectant